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By Kent Larsen
Rescue From Abuse: LDS Stake Intervenes, Saves Woman, Family from Abuse
SALISBURY, MASSACHUSETTS -- After 17 years of physical and sexual
abuse, last month Christine McMullen finally reached-out, and chose
her LDS stake to ask for help. After detailing the abuse to her stake
president, she called May 8th to report that her husband wasn't home,
putting in motion a dramatic rescue, "He was out of the house and she
called and said, `We need to do this today,' " a source close to the
family told the Boston Herald. Within an hour, church members and
relatives descended on her house, fearing the husband's sudden
return, and whisked McMullen and her children away.
The daring rescue is now winning acclaim for the Exeter New Hampshire
stake from local and government officials who admit they didn't even
know the family existed, and from family members who say they didn't
know about the problem. "We aren't Mormon - she converted to it
following her marriage to Patrick - but now it seems that that was
the smartest thing she ever did," said a woman, who would identify
herself only as a relative by marriage. "It is to church officials
she finally confided." Even LDS Church members in the stake say they
didn't know that there was a problem, "A lot of people didn't even
realize she was in that type of situation. They knew something was
screwy, but they didn't know the extent of it."
Now the story of the family's abuse by Patrick McMullen and of
Christine's attempts to save her marriage and courageous protection
of her children is coming to light. Her request for a restraining
order, filed May 7th in Newburyport district court, describes
beatings and sexual abuse that started shortly after their marriage
and the birth of their children, now aged 8 to 17.
Christine married at age 18, and Patrick soon made the family into
virtual recluses, with few connections with the outside world. The
couple moved to Maine and then back to Massachusetts, living in
Merrimac and then in Salisbury. Suspicious of paperwork and of
outsiders, Patrick wouldn't let the children enroll in school. All
six children, three boys and three girls, were born at home, and at
least one of the children doesn't even have a birth certificate.
The restraining order reports that the physical abuse increased over
time, "He has physically hurt us repeatedly with painful blows to the
head, abdomen, chest, etc., causing bruising, abrasions, and
headaches," Christine McMullen said in court documents. "He has
kicked the children, spanked them with a belt causing severe
bruising, and issued tight squeezes with one hand upon the neck."
But Patrick's domination of the family and Christine's desire to make
her marriage work led her to keep the nature of the problems a
secret, "He is of a domineering and controlling nature of which I
have been blind, due to my desire to have a happy relationship," she
said. By all reports, Christine kept the children well-fed, clean and
homeschooled using materials available on the Internet. And, the
signs of the abuse were kept hidden from outsiders
One chance for escape arrived in 1995, while the family was living in
Merrimac, Massachusetts. There school officials learned of the family
and state officials from the Department of Social Services
interviewed Christine and her children at her mother's home in
Merrimac, but DSS investigators only saw a safe, well-cared-for
family, "The children were clean. They were playing. There was no
indication that the children were highly stressed," said DSS
spokeswoman Carol Yelverton. "We only wish somebody had come forward
with a concern. If somebody had just said, `I'm not feeling right
about something in there.' "
The department had responded to some concerns, but they were allayed
during the visit, "We had concerns that the family had been living in
a store, but they insisted they were living with the maternal
grandmother. We were assured they were ... sleeping there, bathing,
getting their meals, that it was a real home environment and that we
weren't going to encounter any problems with an educational plan
being submitted to the schools."
Yelverton added, "This really exemplifies the wall of silence around
some domestic violence. Unfortunately, this mother had ample and safe
opportunities to seek help. Neither the mother, nor the children, nor
any extended-family member expressed any concerns to us in 1995, when
we were called in because of a home-schooling situation. ... It's a
terrible tragedy that victims of domestic violence are so intimidated
and fearful."
While reports so far don't indicate when, Christine McMullen was
allowed by her husband to join The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, and to attend church. Sources close to the family
say this connection was what eventually saved the family, as
relatives took her to church and the "brainwashing" she suffered
began to erode.
Finally, Christine spoke with her priesthood leaders about her
situation. "I think what gave her the confidence to act is when she
sat down with a church official and told him what had been
happening," said one anonymous source close to the family. "Once she
heard herself say this, she knew she had violated that major, major
secret. She knew she had to get out of there or it was going to be
all over."
For a week after their break for freedom, the family lived in fear
that Patrick McMullen would somehow find them. Finally, Salisbury
police arrested McMullen, charging him with four counts of rape, two
of indecent assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon,
disseminating obscene material to a child and possession of a stun
gun. He plead innocent in an arraignment last Wednesday and is being
held on $105,000 bail.
Now, the family is trying to put their lives back together. "As awful
a hell as that place was, it is what they knew, and it is gone," said
DSS spokeswoman Yelverton. "There is a terrific need at this point
... [for] counseling and support and a sence that you're safe."
Friends report that Christine McMullen is struggling with how to get
her life back together and how to care for her children, "She's
overwhelmed, to say the least,'' said one friend, speaking
anonymously. "She's trying to get her life back together. She left
with six kids and they left with nothing. She needs to get back on
her feet."
Sources:
Mormon's aid credited in abuse case
Boston Globe pg3 17Jun01 D1
By Caroline Louise Cole: Globe Correspondent
Woman confided to church leaders, a relative says
Mom 'overwhelmed' by plight: Salisbury family struggles after escape
Boston MA Herald 17Jun01 D1
By Dave Wedge
Salisbury mom reached out in bid to flee horrors
Boston MA Herald 16Jun01 D1
By Ed Hayward
DSS says Salisbury abuse was preventable
Boston MA Globe pgB1 16Jun01 D2
By Brian MacQuarrie: Globe Staff and Caroline Louise Cole: Globe Correspondent
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